Unemployment in Africa is real, and climate change is evident across the continent. These challenges are coupled with a lack of reliable and affordable access to electricity and clean energy for cooking.
Interestingly, for 200 years, this same continent supplied the man-power and raw materials to build the Western world.
In 2021, the African Development Bank reported that African youth aged 15-35 are currently unemployed. Another one-third is underemployed. However, the continent continues to supply raw materials to other continents without value addition and now serves as the battleground for control of the supply chain for rare earth minerals, which are essential for sustaining the chip-making industry, developing renewable energy technologies, and advancing the artificial intelligence revolution. The aforementioned challenges are constantly seen across the length and breadth of the African continent.
Currently, African leaders and institutions are well abreast with these issues and are implementing policies to mitigate these challenges by prioritizing industrialization, and focusing on skills development. To achieve this, many African governments are shifting towards value addition to their raw materials before exporting. As reported by the African Climate Wire on 8 March 2026, thirteen leading critical minerals producing countries in Africa have either introduced export restrictions, bans or beneficiation requirements on raw material exports. For example, in 2026, the government of Zimbabwe imposed a ban on the export of all raw minerals, including those already in transit. This ban has affected exports of lithium concentrate and other raw minerals such as platinum group metals, coal and chrome. Various tax percentages have been imposed on mining companies that defy this ban. The governments of Guinea have also banned the export of unrefined gold and bauxite to boost domestic processing of these valuable resources, to increase revenue for the government and create jobs domestically for the continent’s young labor force. The objective is to regulate supply to drive global prices back up to reasonable levels.
Africa continues to be touted as the world’s ‘next industrial frontier’. It is encouraging to note the recent increase in the production of goods within the continent, as well as the growth of more refineries on the continent. Economic transformation is only possible through a robust manufacturing sector, as witnessed in China and other developed countries. It is worth noting that industrialization has always been an important aspiration for Africa, due in part to the existence of the continent’s young labor force, abundant natural resources, and rapidly expanding domestic markets. As Africa embarks on its first year of the Fourth Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA IV), spanning 2026-2035 (as adopted by the United Nation General Assembly in resolution A/RES/80/293).
To fulfil the aspiration of an industrialized continent, African governments must continue to foster a culture of entrepreneurship, promote good governance, invest in education and infrastructure, diversify their economies and develop strategies that contribute to their economic growth and prosperity. However, industrialisation comes at a cost: global warming and climate change.
Case studies from India and China provide lessons for African countries. Economically, both countries have been growing fast. They host multiple offshore-outsourced manufacturing sites and service centers of US parent companies. Consistently, the Yale-Columbia Environmental Performance Index (EPI) has ranked both India and China in the bottom tier globally due to immense greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Consequently, as African countries put in place measures to transform their manufacturing sector and shift towards value addition on their natural resources, they must keep in mind that the effects of climate change and global warming which includes extreme heat and deteriorating public health, erratic monsoons, hurricanes and droughts, rising sea levels, and infrastructure threats. India, China and the Western world are witnesses to these changes posed by climate change and global warming due to the path of industrialization they chose. Should the effects of climate change on other continents influence Africa to avoid its industrialization agenda? The begging question is, ‘Is Africa shielded from the effects of climate change and global warming?’
A striking contradiction runs through the veins of the global climate conversation. All corners of Africa are attuned to the reality that the aftermath of global warming is no longer theoretical. Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is the story shaping headlines worldwide. From rising seas to devastating floods and crippling droughts, its impacts are dismantling the systems we rely on: water, energy, transport, food, and health. Recent African news evidence this fact. On February 2nd 2026, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies published that in January 2026, Algeria recorded a disastrous flood which caused the collapse of residential walls, and damage to agricultural land and livestock losses in rural areas. On 30th March 2026, CitizenTV of Kenya published that Ppastoralists in Kajiado County are not only dealing with negative impacts of climate change but also with human-animal conflict. On 17th May 2026, ChannelOne TV of Ghana published that “Drought Hits Northern Ghana Hard – Nanumba Farmers Lose Yam” and on 11 June 2026, the Daily Graphic newspaper (Ghana) reported that climate-induced rains combined with poor drainage are increasing food insecurity and damaging essential services across Ghana. Practically, scholars in the arena of climate change must receive their flowers for negotiating an immediate shift away from fossil fuels, which arguably speeds climate change and its global impact. However, Africa’s willingness to give out such flowers cannot be done wholeheartedly, as Africa prays to secure its fossil fuel for purposes of industrialization and to create millions of jobs for a booming youth population.
The great energy paradox of our generation is that, though Africa is responsible for less than 4% of the global greenhouse emissions, it must bear the harsh impact of global warming, while well-developed countries, whose contribution to this conundrum is still astronomical. Ironically, history posits that the financial foundation for these developed countries attempting to convince Africa to abstain from the use of fossil fuel for purposes of ‘Just Energy Transition’ is cheap fossil fuel, like coal, oil and gas consumption which they have strategically mined for two whole centuries.
The question that requires asking is, “Is it genuinely ‘just’ for developed countries to dictate to 600 million Africans living without basic amenities like electricity to rapidly go in for Clean Energy Technologies and adopt ‘Just Energy Transition’ or is it a blueprint for the legalization of Africa’s underdevelopment?”
The Industrialisation imperative
In the words of Todd Mose (founder of Energy Growth Hubb) ‘‘no country in human history has ever moved from poverty to prosperity without using massive amounts of energy.’’ To Africa, this averment demonstrates that we cannot use fossil fuel as a revered stool when our bellies see no food, and our bodies receive no warmth from the energy within our grasp. Out of the seven continents of the world, Africa has for decades functioned as a simple extraction zone for other developed continents, as it keeps shipping off its natural resources like gold, bauxite, diamond, coal and many others without adding value. It is imperative to posit that these resources, in their natural states, are sold to the West and other industrialized societies at a very low price. However, by adding value to these same resources, only a few Africans can afford the finished products shipped to African markets by the West and a few developed countries in Africa.
To escape this loop, Africa must add value to its resources through industrialization. For the meantime, this requires the use of cheap fossil fuels to power heavy-duty machines. Studies have shown that when factories undergo unpredictable blackouts, machines are damaged, production stalls and businesses collapse. For example, while researching The Impact of Power Outages on Manufacturing Industries in Ghana, the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) concluded that as a result of power outages, “approximately 70% of industries surveyed experienced damages to materials in process, equivalent in cost between three million cedis and five billion cedis per annum.” In essence, if Africa is to radically abandon its fossil fuels, local manufacturing will remain uncompetitive against the industrial prowess of developed nations, appealing to the conscience of Africa for ‘Just Energy Transition’. A phenomenon that will continue to accelerate the export of raw materials, which Mr Dangote, an African Billionaire and Industrialist, refers to as ‘exporting jobs and importing poverty’; an act that creates wealth outside Africa.
Fueling Africa’s future: The prudent way forward
Should Africa’s industrialisation hinge solely on fossil fuels? The major cause of climate change in the 21st century is known: fossil fuels. From its exploration, production, transport and utilization. Can the continent imagine the consequences of climate change on the health of its populace, its currently beautiful ecosystem (flora and fauna), finances and limited infrastructure? Yes, the next phase of Africa’s development is industrialization, as the great African industrialist Mr Aligo Dangote puts it ‘Africa must produce what Africa uses’, yet Africa must drive that African industrialization agenda with clean, sustainable and renewable energy fuels, together with cheap fossil fuels.
Coupling these two energy sources is the prudent way forward. Be it fossil fuel resources and reserves, the African continent has them in abundance. The plan to transport natural gas from Nigeria to Europe through the coastlines of West Africa (passing through Morocco, then to Spain) via the West African Gas pipeline gives testament to the abundance of fossil fuels in Africa. The same can be said for renewable energy resources, such as solar, wind and hydro. Africa has more renewable energy resources than any other continent. All fifty-four (54) African countries have renewable energy resources, and each has the potential to generate clean energy from more than two renewable energy resources.
Africa’s greatest challenge in its industrialization journey lies in owning the technologies to harness its vast energy resources for a sustainable and prosperous future. By focusing on technology acquisition, not the mirage technology transfer narrative, and efficient grid transmission, Africa can position itself at the forefront of global green energy advancement. The continent can redefine the narrative in its favor. With 60% of the world’s most promising solar potential and abundant transition minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel, Africa holds unparalleled assets. If cultivated into a low‑cost hub for green energy production, these resources will empower Africa to command its technological destiny, strengthen its industries, and contribute decisively to mitigating climate change worldwide. This should be Africa’s focus as it justly transitions to clean energy.
Engr. Maxwell Quaquah is a Lecturer and a Just Transition Expert at the Energy Systems Engineering Department of the Koforidua Technical University, Ghana (contact: [email protected]).
